Be Strong. Be Fit.

Why Most Beginners Fail and Give Up Exercising?

When beginners start exercising, they are usually all pumped up and energized and ready to conquer the world. They want to run. They want to jump. The feeling is like when they starting a new school year or a new job.

Sad to say, there are several things which may cause more harm than good. If you just start out too, you have to be cautious about what you do and when. One of the things you have to be careful about is to define what “success” means to you. In other words, you must know your fitness goal.

I have seen people setting an unreasonable goal, say shedding 30 pounds or build a Ryan-Reynolds’ body within a month. So, before they see any result, they make a premature judgment that they have failed. The urge for instant success is always there. They think that their approach is wrong and decide to start with another new workout program. This time, they set another unreasonable goal, and again, when they do not make it, they try other ways. If they do not start over again, they continue struggling on. This cycle continues on and on. At this point, they feel frustrated. They become disillusioned and disappointed of not seeing any instant result. They throw their sports shoes into thrash bin. They cancel their gym membership. They blame every one else but not themselves. They believe that exercising is just a waste of time. Finally, they give up, just right before they see result.

So sad.

Often times, beginners want to see results very soon or worse, immediately. They go to gym twice a day and expect their weight to go down, they want their clothes size to get reduced and their flabby arms go away. They expect all these results within a very short time frame. But, exercising is not like an instant coffee.

No, exercising is never an instant coffee. Result rarely comes immediately. Most newbies do not understand that fact. First, they have to determine their goals. Then, execute the plan – exercise regularly, learn to improve, watch their diet and monitor the results. They should be patient instead of keep tweaking the workout sequence, changing the weight lifting technique, trying new yoga pose and others. Stay focused. Be patient.

It takes time, perspiration, and patience and perseverance to build a healthy body. Every hour you spend exercising is a step closer to your fitness goal. Take things easy. Define your goals, and break them up to help you reaching the destination with different milestones along the way. One step at a time.

I’ve encountered people who want the quick fix solution. The people who thing there’s a “magic pill” for weight loss. Basically, I tell them that there’s no such thing and that the work that they’re doing is to undo the last 5 years of bad eating and no exercise.

I’ve also encountered that kind of mentality myself…but I’m one of those people who are too dumb to quit. By keeping consistent with the exercises you’re already doing…do you think it’s possible to get faster results by “adding” more to their exercise program / cross training? i.e. swimming or yoga to an existing resistance program.

I trained a guy who was about 350 lbs for about two months. He had just started to trim down and a little bit of excess weight and he just gave up. I really tried to convince him that he was on the right track, but failed.

Do you have any advice for keeping people motivated enough to stick with it?

I see people all the time… their first week of working out and they are sore and they don’t see results so they want to stop. I always urge people to give me just 3 months to show them they can see changes. And the pride they feel after that time is awesome… they’re hooked.

i don’t understand how people who are unhappy with their weight expect to lose the unwanted pounds in a week or two. do they not realize that the unwanted weight (in most cases) didn’t just appear over the span of a week or two?

Many people get discouraged because their weight may not change much during the initial phase of beginning. This is why it is important to do a thorough assessment prior to starting a new program- complete with body fat, strength assessments, flexibility, and various other tests.

It was never easy to begin with when you are heavy, just like me, 123kgs back in 2006. Then I signed up for a gym nearby together with personal training. I was quite unhappy with the personal trainer because all he do is look at me do the same old exercises he introduced for the past few months (which is until the personal sessions ends), and telling me I should buy more sessions as I’m improving. He even said if I stop now, I won’t succeed losing weight blah blah. You know what? I smack that on his face proving him wrong when he saw me a year ago.

During his training period, I manage to lose around 12kgs in 6 months. That was hella hard one as I keep going to the gym daily for hours (was so free waiting for university admission). Soon after I’ve stopped personal training, I still go to the gym myself and work my ass off. But of course as time pass, especially when uni starts… I’ve gotten lazy. So lazy that I only go gym once a week, or once a forthnight? Lol… then until one day I realize I’m starting to gain weight, immediately I start back the 3 times a week routine in my gym. For 1 years doing that, I’m really happy to see I’ve finally drop to my desired weight, 80kgs. It was hard along the way. I kept thinking, will I ever reach to my desired weight? I’m still 25++kgs away from it.

It seems so hard, so impossible. But when you get busy with school work, you won’t have time to think of that. You just do what you have to do consistently (exercise enough, eat properly, rest well!), set small goals from time to time and go for it. It WILL come, it WILL and think positively. So what I’m saying here is, anything is possible. Never give up, and think of the changes you can get losing that chunk of fat. I’m now definitely enjoying it. It is like a new world to me =). I’m more confident, healthy, happy and one value has hardwired to my soul: I won’t give that up for anything in the world. Now I’m doing a 5 day routine, not sure if I can always make it, but I guess I just have to suck it up to it if I want to achieve my goals, ain’t it? =P

WRONG! Results NEVER come immediately. Don’t expect anything in less than six to nine MONTHS of significant, regular effort. That’s right, MONTHS and MONTHS of hunger, tiredness, deprivation, muscle aches and so on, before you see ANY significant results.